There are a myriad of causes for a person having dark urine. These causes can range anywhere from serious to not serious at all. In this article, I’ll begin with the least serious causes first, and then get into more serious causes.
Sometimes things you eat can produce a urine that is brown colored. These can be things such as rhubarb, fava beans, or aloe.
Medications are also prone to turn the urine darker than it should be. Various laxatives such as Cascara may turn the urine dark along with Nitrofurantoin which treats urinary tract infections. Medications that treat malaria may also do this.
In getting into more serious problems, one of the things that can cause a brown urine color is Acute Unilateral Obstructive Uropathy. This problem also causes other symptoms besides dark urine which is back pains, stomach pains, foul-smelling urine, nausea, hypertension, and pain that also may move around to the genitals. There may also be a urine frequency.
Acute tubular necrosis is something caused by the kidneys not receiving plentiful oxygen levels. This can be the result of an injury or trauma, or blood transfusion. If you are having this condition, there will be other symptoms than dark urine such as feeling extremely sleepy, nausea and vomiting, a lot of fluid retention, and urination may go from dark to no urine production. This is very serious as the person can also experience delirium and go into a coma.
Alport Syndrome is genetic, and caused from kidney damage. There is very dark-colored urine along with swelling in the extremeties, coughing, loss of hearing, and visual disturbances. This condition can result in end-stage renal failure where dialysis is required.
Chronic urinary tract infections often cause dark urine along with burning while urinating and some abdominal pains.
Chronic prostatitis in males can bring on dark/brown colored urine with decreased urine output, lower back pains, pain with sex, incontinence, low-grade fevers, and a lot of pain with urination. Urination may also be hesitant.
Both acute and chronic glomerulonephritis can cause dark colored, brownish urine. There is frequently blood in the urine, urination that is decreased, a lot of facial swelling and puffiness around the eyes, abdomen, and legs. The person affected is also very tired and sleepy. If the glomerulonephritis is into later stages, it causes more serious symptom types such as hypertension, a lot of flank pain, bruising easily, and problems breathing. A bad cough is also part of the symptomatology and maybe seizures.
Liver diseases such as any viral type of hepatitis or Cirrhosis of the Liver can cause dark urine, a swollen abdomen section, abdominal pains and certainly jaundice.
If you are having dark urine on a regular basis along with symptoms of disorders I have talked about here, do contact your doctor as soon as possible for diagnosis.
